AbeBooks book blog

Yann Martel meets Ang Lee in Life of Pi – the movie

Welly welly well, my dear droogs. Not at all sure how I feel about this (thanks, Quill and Quire!).

It seems Yann Martel’s fantastical, dark, strange and wonderful novel Life of Pi is to be made into a movie, directed by Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Hulk, Brokeback Mountain). I thought Ang Lee did a decent job of Brokeback Mountain, which was adapted from E. Annie Proulx’s short story of the same name – the conflict, emotions and bond between Ennis and Jack was portrayed well on the big screen, and did the story justice.

But while Brokeback had the challenge of emotional struggle, secrecy, and inner turmoil to portray, it was essentially a presentation of facts, in terms of a linear, undisputed storyline – this is what happened, this is what happened next. Life of Pi is anything but. Much of the novel, if you’ve never read it, is impossible (or is it?), magical, and possibly delusional. It has two separate stories running in parallel, and much of the interpretation, the decision of truth, is left up to the reader. I feel one way about it (mostly), and most people I know with whom I’ve discussed the book subscribe to the other possible interpretation. I’m very curious to see how this will be handled in the film version.

I remain cautiously optimistic, with a decent side of skepticism. The film is still being scripted, so no word on the who or when thus far. We’ll keep you posted!